Bays oust Bulldogs in district basketball opener

BRIMLEY – Three appears to be the magic number for the Brimley Bays in district play this season.

Monday night’s 60-35 win over the Rudyard Bulldogs on the first night of postseason play, marked the first of three games the Bays need to win to claim a district crown.

Another reason the number three is important for the Bays is that it’s the number of times the Bays have beaten Rudyard this season. It’s also the number of wins they’ll need to have against Pickford to reach the championship game. If Brimley faces DeTour for the district crown, it will require a third win over the Raiders. On the other hand, if the Bays face Cedarville in the title game, it will be the Bays trying to buck the rule of three and knock off the Trojans the one time that it matters most.

Brimley left no doubt what it’s capable of on Monday night. The Bays had their foot on the gas early and exploded for an 11-0 lead before Rudyard was able to get on the board with 2:48 left in the first quarter. The ‘Dogs started in a 2-1-2 zone defense that the Bays did not find particularly puzzling. Tommy Aikens scored six of the Bays’ first 11 and forced Rudyard coach Tracy Peterson into a second timeout and a man-to-man defense.

“We ran into a hot team tonight,” said Peterson of Brimley.“You really can’t say enough about the way they played tonight. They deserve a lot of credit.”

The change in defense seemed to help the Bulldogs as they slowly climbed back into the game. At the end of the first quarter they trailed 18-9 and went into the half trailing by 12, 32-20. The Bays had two starters with two fouls as Dakota Bowen and Danny Lothrop had each picked up a pair. The bad news though was that Alex Wonders, the Rudyard point-guard had picked up his third with just under 2:00 left.

“We were able to play with them for a half,” Peterson said.“I thought if we could come out and get a couple baskets to open the second half, we could get back in it.”

It didn’t work out that way though as it was Brimley that came out and put up four quick points, extending the lead to 36-20. The was plenty of time left on the clock, but the game was essentially over at that point as Rudyard never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

Brimley coach Matt Bathey was extremely pleased to see his team go on a little run at the beginning of each half.

“That’s huge for us when we can do that,” he said. “If we can get that early lead, we really feed off that and we just keep going.”

The Bays did just that as they continued to push the pace and knock down open shots. They were also dominant on the boards. Rebound numbers for Rudyard were not immediately available, but both coaches were quick to bring up the disparity.

“They really killed us on the offensive glass,” Peterson said of Brimley. “We weren’t able to keep them from getting second and third shots, and we had a lot of one-and-done possessions. Shane Beaune really stepped up for them when Lothrop got into foul trouble.”

Bathey agreed with Peterson’s assessment.

“We don’t have a deep bench, but we’re pretty well rounded,” he said. Guys can play different positions, and when Dan went out, Shane really started rebounding the ball well for us.”

Beaune garnered eight rebounds and also led Brimley in scoring with 15 points. The Bays were balanced with four starters hitting double figures in the scoring column. Aikens and Bowen had 12 points each. Aikens also had 10 rebounds, while Bowen had five assists and four steals. Lothrop chipped in with 11 points. The only starter who did not hit double figures was point guard Jayson Aikens, who ended up just two assists and two points shy of a triple-double after leading the team in rebounds with 12.

“I really can't say enough about Jayson,” Bathey said. “He has been our leader all season and really stepped up with a huge game on both ends of the floor. He shut his player down defensively and almost ended up with a triple-double.”

Rudyard (7-14) was led in the scoring column by Jake Harrison and Brady VanSloten, each of whom had eight points.

Brimley (18-3), will be in action again on Wednesday at 6 pm against Pickford, while Cedarville and DeTour will renew acquaintances at 7:30.